Please refer to the attached file.
The war in Gaza has fundamentally reshaped household structures and survival responsibilities. Women reportedly head nearly 1 in 4 households in Gaza – representing an estimated 86,290 households and roughly double the pre-October 2023 rate of around 1 in 9.
A new UN Women analysis indicates a sharp increase in women who have become the primary heads of their households, taking on responsibility for supporting and sustaining their households.1 The analysis shows that women’s household headship extends beyond those formally recorded as household heads. It includes women whose husbands are missing, detained, separated or whose fate remains unknown, as well as women caring for husbands who are severely injured, disabled or otherwise unable to fulfil their previous household roles. In these circumstances, women are becoming the household’s principal caregiver, decision-maker, income or cashflow manager, aid recipient and point of contact with humanitarian assistance systems, while the household continues to be formally classified as male-headed.
For analytical consistency, this report uses “womenheaded households” or “WHH” to refer to households in which a woman is identified as the household head in the source data. “De facto women-headed households” refers to households in which women perform the responsibilities associated with household headship in practice but may not be formally or reportedly recognized as doing so. This distinction has operational implications.
Humanitarian assessments, registration systems and targeting processes frequently rely on reported household headship, civil documentation or other formal classifications. Consequently, women-headed households captured in survey and registration data are likely to represent only part of the broader population of women carrying household headship responsibilities. Where women’s actual roles are not accurately reflected in humanitarian data, their households risk being incorrectly assessed or inadequately supported.
The increase in reported and de facto women-headed households is unfolding amid severe restrictions on access to essential services and humanitarian assistance across the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian operations continue to depend on a limited number of border crossings, while movement within Gaza – particularly to areas requiring prior coordination with the Israeli authorities – is subject to delays and other access constraints. Continuing hostilities, insecurity and funding shortfalls further limit the availability and timely delivery of clean water, food, shelter materials, healthcare and hygiene products.
Within this environment, women-headed and de facto women-headed households are likely to face heightened and overlapping barriers to meeting basic needs, accessing services and assistance, remaining safe and preserving their capacity to cope. These pressures are compounded where women have limited income, mobility, documentation or access to information, or where assistance systems do not recognize the responsibilities they are carrying.